The journey so far: annual report 2013 – 2014

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Launched in October 2013, the Graphene Flagship has now been sailing for a little over a year. Much has been achieved in this short time, yet we are only a tenth of the way on a voyage that we hope will take graphene and related materials from academic laboratories into society.

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Photo: Carl-Christian Buhr,
European Commission, Belgium and Prof. Jari Kinaret, Graphene
Flagship/Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden at the Graphene
Flagship programme start in October 2013.
(Photo: Peter Widing, Chalmers University of Technology).

The Graphene Flagship is the first endeavor of its kind. Part of the first year has been about establishing routines within the research community, and between the flagship and the European Commission and eu member states. We have been learning the ropes, so to speak.

Among the key events during the year was an expansion of the Graphene Flagship through a competitive call, as a result of which the consortium now includes 142 partners in 23 countries. Our collaboration with member states included a joint transnational call, through which national and regional funding agencies contribute €11 million to research that complements the ec-funded project.

Already during the first year, the Graphene Flagship has made a substantial impact in the science and technology of graphene and related materials. We have more than 300 peer-reviewed papers to our name, have filed several patent applications, and given more than 600 public presentations of our work. All this while still in the ramp-up phase, with a budget half that of the steady state.

We are now planning the next phase of the Graphene Flagship, in which we will use the larger budget to introduce new topics such as biomedical technologies, and to strengthen the industrial component of our work. That said, excellent science continues to be the driving force of the flagship.

A recent independent assessment has confirmed that the Graphene Flagship is firmly on course, so we can be very proud of our accomplishments during the first year.